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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Kittens and Evacuation Orders and rEcess, a Random Tuesday Post

And now, a bit of random news from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.

Dumpling, the kitten we got from Dr. Bea, has been accepted by the shelter as part of their program, as long as i am willing to foster her. She is sucking up canned food and occasionally licks the bottle, but won't actually suck on it. She also tries to nurse on my shirt:

It's hard to get a picture at this angle, and you can see the ringworm medicine on her ears.

This week of house sitting and cat sitting has been made much more complicated by the addition of a kitten and the rain.

Speaking of rain, several people here in our area are already gathering supplies to go help in Texas, and the "Cajun Navy" is out rescuing people. They have actually set themselves up with squad commanders in certain areas, and if you want to volunteer you take your boat and go to the commander of the area where you are assigned. This way they are making sure every area is being searched, no one place is oversaturated with rescuers while another languishes waiting for help.

The people fussing about lack of evacuation orders need to remember that this situation was similar to the situation in Louisiana last year. No one ever could have seen this coming or guessed exactly where the rain would end up, how it would impact one place so badly. It's so easy to yell and cast blame in retrospect. When looking forward, there's no foolproof way to predict, so please cut some slack to those in charge. They made the best decisions they could with the information they had.

Which reminds me that there was talk of ordering an evacuation of NOLA because of this. The pumps down there are not all working or all working at capacity. If this storm had ended up sending more rain that direction, NOLA would have had trouble.

Therein lies the problem. They were watching to see if they needed to evacuate people. Often, by the time you actually realize how much damage is being done, it's too late to call for an evacuation. Call for it too soon and end up with no need for it, then next time no one will heed it. Call for it when you are certain you need it, and you may not be able to get everyone out fast enough.

These leaders walk a fine line, and i don't cast blame on any unless they willingly ignore obvious indicators. That didn't happen here last year, and it didn't happen in Texas.

If you want to donate to a charity that will use the money only in the storm impacted areas, and that will stay around for the long term rebuilding, Convoy of Hope is a good choice. They have an excellent Charity Navigator rating, too.

There's not a lot going on here besides the usual, kids learning the hard way you don't put the bacon grease into the jar until it is cool (do you know how hard it is to clean that much bacon grease off of the floor? you don't want to know), cats getting into anything they can possibly get into, and all of us wanting the rain to go move up to drought stricken areas and leave us alone for a while.

Esala Perahera (Festival of Buddha's Tooth) -- Sri Lanka (two week festival honoring a relic held in one temple that is supposed to have a tooth of Buddha brought to Sri Lanka in the 3rd Century; one of Sri Lanka's most elaborate festivals)

Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (Patron of baptism, bird dealers, converts, convulsive children, cutters, epileptics, farmers, French Canadians, lambs, monastic life, motorways, printers, tailors; over 70 cities and countries around the world; against convulsions, epilepsy, hail and hailstorms, spasms)

Head Day -- Iceland (a weather omen day; whatever today's weather, it will stay the same for at least 3 weeks)

Individual Rights Day -- on the birth anniversary of John Locke, the first philosopher to argue that a human being has basic rights based on his status as a sovereign human being, and that people are not slaves of their government, but their human rights should be protected by government

International Day Against Nuclear Testing -- UN

Judgment Day -- according to "The Terminator"

Lemon Juice Day

More Herbs, Less Salt Day

National Sarcoidosis Awareness Day -- US (by presidential proclamation in 1991)

Runic Half-Month Rad begins (Motion)

Slovak National Uprising Anniversary -- Slovakia

St. Medericus' Day (also called Saint-Merri or St. Merry, acclaimed as the Patron of the Right Bank of the Seine River in Paris)

Tvimanuor -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (the name means "Double Month", and the origin is uncertain; perhaps because winter is coming and it's time to double up on the preparations)

Birthdays Today:

Lea Michele, 1986

Rebecca De Mornay, 1962

Mark Morris, 1956

Michael Jackson, 1958

`Richard Gere, 1949

Robin Leach, 1941

William Friedkin, 1939

Elliot Gould, 1938

John McCain, 1936

Richard Attenborough, 1923

Charlie "Bird" Parker, 1920

Isabel Sanford, 1917

Ingrid Bergman, 1915

Preston Sturges, 1898

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809

John Locke, 1632

Today in History

Era of Diocletian (Martyrs), the last major time of persecution for the early Christian churches, begins with Gen. Gaius Aurelius V Diocletianus Jovius becoming emperor of Rome, 284

Japan mints its first copper coins, 708

The last Incan King of Peru, Atahualpa, is executed by order of Francisco Pizarro, 1533

The first Indian "reservation" is formed by the New Jersey Legislature, 1758

Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction, 1831

The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of slavery in its empire, 1833

Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War, 1842

The first motorcycle is patented in Germany by Gottlieb Daimler, 1885

The chef of a visiting Chinese Ambassador invents "chop suey" in NYC, 1896

Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California, 1911

The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, 1949

Speedy Gonzales makes his debut, 1953

The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, 1966

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party, 1991

Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, 2005

Sumatra's Sinabung volcano erupts for the first time in 400 years, killing one and causing Indonesia to evacuate thousands of people, 2010

London holds the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, 2012

Austrian researchers announce they successfully grew 'cerebral organoids' or mini-brains, containing several distinct regions of the brain; the mini-brains will help scientists understand how brains develop, and what causes schizophrenia and autism, 2013

I feel so bad for the people in Texas. We ended up donating to 3 organizations last night. I think I read somewhere that if they had called for an evacuation people might have ended up dying in their cars as they were trying to get out of the city. By not calling for one, it gave people the chance to climb to the tops of their roofs and get help that way. And then what about all of the people without any means to get out of the city? The poor, the homeless? I heard hotels were raising their rates around Houston. I read that one guy paid $800 for two nights for his family! :( I really hope the rain clears out of that area soon, so that the people in Houston can start putting their lives back together.

Your new kitten is absolutely adorable! I'm so glad you are able to foster Dumpling!